Fleecing.
Oh Yes.
I always get a good feeling when a new vine gets up to the wire. I donāt always tip but I did on this one. The wire is about 6ā and the tip is about 5.5ā. It normally takes 1-2 weeks for the 2 new shoots to emerge. The next phase is to get it down the left and right side wires. I would like to get a small fruit sample in 2027.
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Scottās Raccoon Repellant @scottfsmith
I have been using an electric fence effectively for a few years to keep raccoons out of my ripening muscadines. The problem is that the wire must be low and the grass under it has to be even lower which is a regular battle to contend with. I have been interested in the loose netting procedure Scott piloted ever since it was posted. I will be putting it around one of my pear trees soon. My personality is to attempt to change plans to help in other areas like my muscadines. Will this work? I donāt know but Iām giving it a try.
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It looks worth a try! Put lots of bushy netting to make sure itās a snarl pit and there canāt be anything else they can climb up on. Raccoons are not jumpers like squirrels so it should be a bit easier to seal things for them.
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its amazing that breeders can know that grapes will be seedless and perfect beforehand. Nice article on the development of seedless muscadines..
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This is my wild muscadine vine that I transplanted several years ago. Iāll confirm whether it is a true muscadine or just a āpossum grapeā in September.
Iām guessing that possum grapes have males and females just the same as wild muscadines. I know that most of the vines that I transplanted do not even have grapes of any sort..
Iāve read that the Vitis Riparia vine is often used in breeding. Could this be a Vitis Riparia vine?
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V. Riparia has sour, pea-sized black grapes that are almost entirely seed I believe? It also grows clusters. Iād guess thatās probably a wild female muscadine?
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No, your photograph is definitely of a muscadine grape.
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What fooling me is that the clusters only number 1-3 grapes per cluster. AI says that i should commonly see 4-10 grapes per cluster on a wild muscadine vine.
Last year I saw a couple of extremely small clusters on two vines but they seemed to disappear in the middle of the summer. Donāt know what they were. So this year I had assumed that they were all āpossum grapesā. Now Iām very happy. Just hope that I get enough to taste some wild muscadine jelly.
Iām assuming that the perfect-flowered vines will pollinate the wild vine.
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Itās very common for wild muscadines to have significantly smaller clusters and much thicker skins than cultivated muscadine. Those are some of the things breeders have been working on improving over the last 120 years or so that muscadine breeding has been a thing.
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The leaves and fruit appear to be muscadines. The fruit looks to be much larger than my muscadines at this time of the year. Just wondering if they bloomed out a little early and the weather thinned the fruit. Iām interested in seeing how they progress later in the season.
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Definitely a wild muscadine vine. Looks like they will be a bit larger than average.
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What do people use for fungicide on muscadines? Iāve used Myclobutanil on regular bunch grapes. I have a bottle of Fruit Tree and Plant Guard (or something), that specifically says not to use it on Concord and similar grapes. I realize these are a different species, but Iām wondering if thereās like a āno sulfur on apricotsā thing I should be aware of?
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Iāve never needed a fungicide on muscadines. Rarely, Japanese beetles will cause leaf damage which can be stopped with Pyganic. If I were looking for low impact, neem oil would be first choice.
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I use captan/ Merivon. Ison recommends a spray schedule of captan and malathion (the latter is an insecticide). I found that I donāt need to spray insecticide, but if I donāt spay fungicide, then all my vines get partially defoliated from black rot. Carlos and Fry (bronze) also get bad fruit rot from it. I have not tried captan alone, but from what I read, the protection is not great. With Merivon, I get complete control. The captan is there to prevent resistance development to Merivon. I am using the same combo on my apples to prevent fruit rots.Merivon is expensive, but you only need 1 tbs/gal, and I store it in the fridge, so it lasts a long time.
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I hope if youāre keeping it refrigerated itās in a separate refrigerator, not one you would store your household food items in. Itās not something thatās supposed to be stored around human or animal foods. True of most fungicides. To much risk of off gassing and the like causing long term chronic exposure.
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Yes, a separate fridge is a good idea. That way you donāt have to worry about contaminating your food. Even though Merivon is a solid suspension, so there will be no vapor pressure
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SuperHero from Gurneys
Am I ready for another seedless muscadine? Iāll have to think about this one. Brix of 20 is pretty sweet.
Product Description
Sweet golden bronze fruits
Classic muscadine flavor
Large productive clusters
Juicy, easy-to-eat fruit
Cold hardy variety
20 Brix
This new seedless muscadine produces attractive golden bronze fruits with a sweet, pleasant muscadine flavor and a classic aromatic fragrance. The juicy fruits have an improved texture with a thinner, more enjoyable skin, making it easier to eat fresh right from the vine than classic muscadines. This high-yielding variety produces large clusters with up to 21 grapes per cluster, with a Brix of 20.
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